The names of these peaches are confusing. There are only two historical ones, one is freestone and soft-fleshed, the other is clingstone and hard-fleshed. The former is a great eating peach and the latter is a great pickling peach. The Free one is called Indian Free, Blood Free, Indian Blood Free etc, and similarly for the cling one. I wouldn’t use name “Indian Blood” for the cling as that can get confused with Indian Free. But, it is a longstanding name for the peach and is still in use.
I grew Black Boy at some point, it was nearly identical to Indian Free in terms of season/size/taste but more prone to mealiness and rot so I took it out.
Thanks for that report! Cool, frees up room for other possible trees to get! Plus I have two red fleshed peaches/nectarines already anyway. I would be better served with other choices. I like Indian Free a lot, but Arctic Glo nectarine is better if you ask me. The flesh is very red too.
I will always grow both. They do not taste anything like each other either.
I’m not sure all of what runs around here in the wee hours but we definitely have squirrels and raccoons. My only other peach tree, a Baby Crawford, had two golf-ball size peaches that I had left on it (2nd leaf) and they just disappeared one day. Thanks for the advice regarding chopping the I F peach. Just a thought: do people ever ‘top work’ a tree with its own branches/scions? I don’t have any plans, ha ha…still too new at this, just wondering.
I would leave it, your tree still is excellent! I agree with others do not now cut it down, the lower buds for sure are gone! Also any peach tree thicker than 3/4 inch should not be cut to knee high. As often buds are gone by that thickness. On those trees work with existing scaffolds.
I made a mistake with my tree too. I removed the ropes after about two months and the branches ended up pointing upwards anyway. Next time the rope and bricks stay on all season! All of us have been where you are. Trees don’t last long, work with what you got and do it better next tree. I certainly plan to!
With your tree as with most all peaches you want an open vase. So I would cut the central leader off and develop 3-5 scaffolds (you can leave more, and make final selections later) with side branches. if you tie them down and leave them all season, the branches will be more parallel and not grow as much skyward. You can still keep the tree fairly small!
Excellent…thank you all. I have so much to learn. I can look at that tree now in terms of creating a shape. It’s the most mature of my trees and it never occurred to me that it wasn’t putting out little starter branches on its trunk like all the others.
Yes it takes awhile to “see”! Usually we prune for size during the summer, and we prune for structure when dormant, late winter or early spring. But you can do either anytime. Well for peaches. If we are talking sweet cherry we have a different approach. I like to prune for structure while dormant because when the leaves are gone it’s easier to see the shape. In the summer, I just keep it at the size I want.
The fruit tube videos give you a lot of info on pruning.
I’ve been thinking about pruning methods and noticing that there is a profusion of small, sometimes crisscrossing branches in several of the trees. It’s not clear to me yet how the Summer/dormant system works but I will study it pretty soon and get it straight in my mind…probably. A couple other things that are coming up are budding, and rooting cuttings. Spurred on by my relative success with grafting, I hope to try a bit of both. Thanks for taking the time to write out these informative posts. (Great link to the vids!)
Those and dead branches can be removed anytime. Crossing branches rub and cause damage, they should be removed ASAP.
Congrats on the grafting I’m jealous I suck at it so bad I probably will not be doing anymore. I’m like 1 for 30.
Next year, graft with a pro and let them see what’s not working. Probably a simple change or two in technique will set you up for all sorts of multi-trees and fruitin’ freebies. I’m thinking that the grafting/budding thing opens all sorts of doors. My first and only project so far is saving an old apple tree from fading into oblivion…and it’s working. Of the standard fruit types, I only have two of each; but I plan to have ten of each in the not too distant future. Don’t write it off just yet.
Hi folks. I just wanted to ask if anyone else has had any problems with Indian Blood trees dying? I started my orchard back in 2012 and have over 100 trees and in the whole time I’ve been growing fruit, I have only had about 4 trees that just up and died. (this doesn’t count ones that never leafed out- I’m talking about trees that leafed out and grew at least one whole season and then died). Out of those 4, 3 of them were Indian Blood Freestone!!! THey were ordered at different times from different sources, so it wasn’t just a “bad batch”.
The whole time they lived they were quite sickly looking. The bark always looked somewhat spotted/discolored, the growth was quite slow, and generally they just looked unhealthy the 1-3 years they lived until death.
I should have examined the roots better when I dug them up but its too late for a post mortem now. They were all on citation. They were planted in different areas across my orchard with no more or no less water or other differences from other trees that I can think of. One thing I can say is that in general, all my white peaches seem less healthy than yellows, but no others have outright died. .
Anyway, I can’t give you any specific information that would help figure out this problem, so I just wondered if its just me or if these trees just are less healthy in general than other peaches? Anyone else had problems growing these guys? Because of the uniqueness and late ripening date I’ll probably try again, but thought I’d ask about this first to see if it is just me (probably is since I’ve never heard this from anyone else here). Thanks!
Kevin
My slowest growing tree is Indian Free, and it is on citation. I myself will never order anything on that rootstock. It doesn’t do well here, and many reports of runting out of peaches on citation. I have two other trees on citation and all three have canker. I have 2 on Lovell, and no canker. Whne the canker takes my Indian Free, I’ll order another on Lovell.
Anyone got Indian Free scionwood that hasn’t leafed out yet?
(not Indian Blood which seems is like a less tasty non-fresh-eating peach)
I may do some peach grafting soon so thought I’d ask. My friend is growing a Black Boy peach from RainTree that I gave him and he loves near Philly (I also tasted and agree its the best peach i ever ate).
I am hoping to graft Indian Free on one of its branches to compare.